Light emitting diode (LED) lighting technology is rapidly developing to replace traditional incandescent and fluorescent lighting. LED tube lamps are mercury-free in comparison with fluorescent tube lamps that need to be filled with inert gas and mercury. Thus, it is not surprising that LED tube lamps are becoming a highly desired illumination option among different available lighting systems used in homes and workplaces, which used to be dominated by traditional lighting options such as compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and fluorescent tube lamps. Benefits of LED tube lamps include improved durability and longevity and far less energy consumption; therefore, when taking into account all factors, they would typically be considered as a cost effective lighting option.
Typical LED tube lamps have a lamp tube, a circuit board disposed inside the lamp tube with light sources being mounted on the circuit board, and end caps accompanying a power supply provided at two ends of the lamp tube with the electricity from the power supply transmitting to the light sources through the circuit board.
The available electronic ballasts are mainly classified into two types of instant start electronic ballast and pre-heat start electronic ballast. The electronic ballast has a resonant circuit, which is designed to match a load characteristic of a fluorescent lamp to provide an appropriate ignition process for igniting the lamp. The load characteristic of the fluorescent lamp is capacitive before the lamp is ignited and is resistive after the lamp is ignited. The LED is a non-linear load, having a completely different load characteristic. Therefore, the LED tube lamp affects the resonance of the resonant circuit and tends to cause compatible problems. In general, the pre-heat electronic ballast detects the filament of the lamp during ignition process. However, the conventional LED driving circuit can not supply the filament detection and so can not light with the pre-heat electronic ballast. In addition, the electronic ballast is effectively a current source, and it easily results in the problems of over current, over voltage, under current and the under voltage when being used to be a power supply of the LED tube lamp. The LED tube lamp may not provide stable lighting and even the electrical device therein may be damaged. Moreover, a transient flicker may appear after the user turns off the power, which may cause user discomfort.
Accordingly, the present disclosure and its embodiments are herein provided.